Calorie intake-controlling food

ABSTRACT

A calorie intake-controlling food is disclosed which comprises low-calorie cereals having reduced carbohydrate content, a water-soluble dietary fiber and protein having an isoelectric point in the acidic region, the cereals being contained in a predetermined amount corresponding to the calorie intake to be controlled, and in which said water-soluble dietary fiber and said protein are in such proportions that an aqueous solution of said food is gelatinized when contacted with gastric juice.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to calorie intake-controlling food. Moreparticularly, it is concerned with calorie intake-controlling foodcontaining low-calorie cereals, a dietary fiber and protein. The food isfavorably used as food for patients with obesity or diabetes mellitusbecause its calorie content is 1/2 or less as much as that of gruel andbecause it is retained longer in the stomach.

BACKGROUND OF ART

Since the number of obesity patients has rapidly increased in recentyears, obesity is becoming a serious problem in social health. As onsetof obesity is caused by excessive calorie intake in most cases, the mosteffective means for the prevention and the therapy is to reduce calorieintake.

In some patients the calorie-intake is restricted to an intake of gruel,a porridge of rice and vegetables is applied. Such method is based uponreduction of the level of calorie per unit weight due to swelling ofrice grains by absorption of a large amount of water in preparing gruelfrom cooked rice.

However, as starch which constitutes the major portion of the saccharideis converted to the α-type when gruel is prepared from cooked rice, thestarch becomes more digestible and is provided with a higherutilizability in the body as a result that calorie intake-restrictingeffect of a saccharide-containing gruel is hardly produced. Moreover,the processing to gruel or the like is disadvantageous in that it ratherfacilitates digestion thereby promptly producing hunger sensation.Moreover, gruel heretofore employed is disadvantageous in that it brownsor undergoes collapse of the cereal grains when stored for a longerperiod of time.

On the other hand, there is applied reduction in calorie intake per unitweight by giving a dietary fiber alone or in combination with otherfoods.

Attention has recently been called to dietary fibers because of theiraction improving saccharide or lipid metabolism.

However, dietary fibers have disadvantages of being unfavorable in tasteor feeling on intake so that it is difficult to take the material alone.When used in combination, dietary fibers greatly deteriorate the tasteor texture on intake of most of the foods to which the material has beenadded.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

An object of the invention is to provide calorie intake-controlling foodwhich has appearance, taste and texture on intake similar to those ofgruel, but which contains a very low level of calorie per unit weightand produces a long duration of the feeling of full stomach after taken.

We have found that the above-mentioned object is achieved with foodcontaining low-calorie cereals produced by removing by extract ofsaccharide from cooked cereals, and a water-soluble dietary fiber andprotein in predetermined proportions. The present invention has beencompleted on the basis of the above finding.

This is provided by the invention food containing low-calorie cerealswith a reduced content of carbohydrates, particularly saccharide, awater-soluble dietary fiber and protein having an isoelectric point inthe acidic region.

Examples of the cereals used in the invention include rice, barley,wheat, oats and rye, foxtail millet, Japanese barnyard millet and thelike.

When rice is employed as the starting cereals in the invention, it maybe in either full-grain or crushed form of husked rice, half milledrice, 70% milled rice, milled rice, polished rice with germ, alfa riceand the like, all being distributed on the market in the form of rawrice.

A process for preparing low-calorie cereals using rice will be describedbelow. The process may also be applied when using starting cereals otherthan rice.

First, washed raw rice is cooked in a vessel such as a pressure pan,electric pan or ordinary pan by conventional procedures. To the cookedrice is added in a sufficient amount, water or a diluted solution of anacid such as acetic or phosphoric acid heated to a temperature of 60° C.or higher and the mixture is gently heated with stirring. Adequateconcentration of the diluted acid solution is 0.025-0.5% (v/v). Afterthe heating with stirring is continued for a period of time from 1 min.to 30 min., the solution layer is removed by filtration or decantation.Temperature below 60° C. for the water or diluted solution of an acidsuch as acetic or phosphoric acid will not be favorable becausedesaccharization from the rice does not proceed rapidly. The rice grainsare swelled from 1.5 to 2.5-fold without disintegration of the grains bysuch high-temperature and short-time treatment. The above procedures arerepeated one to several times, and the calorie level per unit weight isreduced by approximately 50% as compared with the original cooked ricedue to removal by extract of saccharide into the solution layer. Calorielevel per unit weight of the rice grains is also reduced toapproximately 1/4 of the original level due to swelling of the grains byabsorption of water.

The removal of saccharide by extraction may also be conducted in anextraction vessel by perfusing water or a diluted solution of an acidsuch as acetic or phosphoric acid heated to a temperature of 60° C. orhigher.

In the preparation of desaccharized cooked rice it is necessary tomaintain viscosity of the saccharide extract below 200 cP during theextracting process. As a matter of fact, if viscosity of the extract isincreased beyond the above, shear force to the cooked rice grains willbe greater to induce disintegration of the grains, and in addition,separation of the cooked rice grains from the extract will becomedifficult.

It is difficult to separate cooked rice grains from liquid layer by a20-mesh screen even with ordinary 50%-concentrated gruel. In thisrespect, comparison was made for screen permeability and degree of gruelformation under various conditions of the viscosity of the extract. To650 g of washed milled rice was added 1 l of water, and the mixture wascooked in an electric pan in a conventional manner to produce 1,450 g ofcooked rice. The rice was divided in six 3-l pans each in an amount of350 g, and water was added to the pan respectively in an amount of 0.5,0.75, 1.0, 1.25, 1.5 or 2 l. The rice was stewed for 30 min. The sixsamples thus obtained were comparatively determined for screenpermeability and degree of gruel formation. Results are shown inTable 1. As shown in Table 1, when viscosity of the extract is 200 cP orlower, preferably 100 cP or lower, the cooked rice grains are hardlydisintegrated, and separation of the cooked rice grains from the liquidlayer is easy.

                  TABLE 1                                                         ______________________________________                                        Amount of                           Degree                                    water   Screen permeability                                                                              Viscosity                                                                              of gruel                                  added   20 mesh  35 mesh  100 mesh                                                                             cP     formation                             ______________________________________                                        0.5     X        X        X      Not    Gruel                                                                  measur-                                                                              formed                                                                 able                                         0.75    ◯                                                                          X        X      210    Gruel                                                                         formed                                1.0     ◯                                                                          X        X      152                                          1.25    ⊚                                                                       ◯                                                                          ◯                                                                        62                                           1.5     ⊚                                                                       ⊚                                                                       ◯                                                                        25                                           2.0     ⊚                                                                       ⊚                                                                       ◯                                                                        18                                           ______________________________________                                         Screen permeability                                                           X . . . Poor                                                                  ◯ . . . Good                                                      ⊚  . . . Excellent                                        

The remaining proportion of the carbohydrates can usually be maintainedat a level of 80% by weight or lower by such process.

The dietary fiber sued in the invention is a water-soluble one anddesirably carrageenan or guar gum. Carrageenan is especially desirable.Attention has been called to dietary fibers in recent years because oftheir action of improving saccharide or lipid metabolism.

The protein used in the invention is one having an isoelectric point inthe acidic region and is desirably casein or a salt thereof (preferablythe salt with an alkali metal such as sodium or potassium) or soyprotein. The acid region in the invention means one at a pH lower than7. The ratio of the water-soluble dietary fiber to the protein is suchthat an aqueous solution of the composition of the invention will be ingel form when contacted with gastric juice. Such ratio is about1:0.5-1:8 by weight (on dry basis), although it is variable dependingupon nature and combination of the water-soluble dietary fiber and theprotein.

If amount (by weight) of the protein is less than 0.5 times that of thewater-soluble dietary fiber, the aqueous solution of the composition ofthe invention will remain liquid without formation of gel. If it is morethan 8-fold as much, the protein will precipitate and be separated fromthe water-soluble dietary fiber thereby resulting in no formation ofgel.

It has been found that when the present composition, having weight ratioof 1:0.5-1:2 of the above-mentioned dietary fiber to the protein, gelsin stomach, migration of saccharide into the gel is high. Therefore, thegel absorbs the saccharide contained in other foods including thelow-calorie cereals coexisting in the stomach, thereby delayingabsorption of such saccharide into the body and being capable ofpreventing rapid rise of the glucose level in patients with disease suchas diabetes mellitus.

The food according to the invention is composed of 1-100, preferably10-30 parts by weight (on dry basis) of the low-calorie cereals per partby weight of the dietary fiber plus the protein. If amount of thelow-calorie cereals is lower than the above-defined one, the person whohas taken the food will not be given feeling of full stomach. If itexceeds the above-defined ratio, gel formation surrounding cooked ricegrains in the stomach will become difficult.

The food of the invention is produced by adding to low-calorie cerealsan aqueous solution containing 0.1-10% (w/v) of the dietary fiber and0.1-10% (w/v) of one or more of the proteins respectively atpredetermined proportions and heating the mixture with stirring.Temperature in the above operation is desirably 60° C. or higher ingeneral, although it is variable depending upon solubility of thedietary fiber employed, and the heating time is desirably from 1 min. to5 min.

The food of the invention may be taken without further processing or maybe dried for preservation by a conventional method such as freezedrying. When processed to a dry food, it is dissolved in hot water onuse and taken in the form of aqueous solution. In the latter scheme,total concentration of the dietary fiber plus the protein isapproximately 0.5-5 w/v %. At a concentration less than 0.5%, gelformation in the stomach will not satisfactorily occur. At aconcentration more than 5%, gelatinized food is produced with difficultyto be taken.

To the food of the invention may be added seasonings and spices providedthat the addition will not cause departure from the objects of theinvention. As the seasonings which may be used, are one or more incombination of any usually employed seasonings including salt, soysauce, sodium glutamate, vinegar, sweet sake, sake and miso. As thespices which may be used, are one or more in combination of any usuallyemployed spices including mustard, garlic, curry and pepper.

The materials used in the invention are of poor taste and may thereforebe given various tastes by the addition of a small amount of seasonings.Accordingly, the food can be given to patients without trouble even whenthey are under salt restriction as part of the treatment.

Other nutrient constitutions such as, for example, carbohydrates,vitamins and minerals may also be added.

Thus, calorie intake-controlling food provided with the same appearance,taste and feeling on intake as with ordinary gruel, being of a very lowcalorie level per unit weight and producing a long duration of thefeeling of full stomach can be obtained.

Calorie intake can easily be controlled by appropriately increasing ordecreasing amount of the cereals contained in the composition of theinvention.

The cereals used in the invention can be stored for a long period oftime with little yellowing or disintegration of cereal grainsassociated. The food of the invention is stored preferably after tightlysealing in a container such as aluminum pack and retort sterilized.

As described above in details, the calorie intake-controlling food ofthe invention contains low-calorie cereals with content ofcarbohydrates, especially saccharide reduced, a water-soluble dietaryfiber and protein having an isoelectric point in the acidic region,contents of said water-soluble dietary fiber and said protein being insuch proportions as forming gel when contacted with gastric juice.Consequently, it is useful as low-calorie food for prevention ortreatment of obesity as well as for treatment of diabetes mellitus.

Calorie intake from the food of the invention can be adjusted to variouslevels without decreasing volume of the food by preparing 30%-, 50%- or100%-concentrated gruel form which is formed by increasing or decreasingcontent of the cereals.

The low-calorie cereals used in the invention is a cooked product withthe carbohydrate content, especially saccharide content removed by verysimple equipment and operation. As the removal of carbohydrates isaccomplished under conditions set to cause no collapse of the shape ofgrains, the food product possesses the same appearance and texture onintake as with the gruel.

Because the calorie-intake controlling food contains a water-solubledietary fiber and protein having an isoelectric point in acidic region,the viscosity is increased up to 50-fold as high as the initial one onintake due to the decrease in temperature from the initial level onintake to the level after intake (in the stomach) and the pH reductionwith secretion of gastric juice. As retention time of the content in thestomach is usually prolonged as its viscosity is increased, mechanicalstimulation to the stomach for extension is produced over a long periodof time when food of the composition of the invention dissolved in wateris taken prior to or together with meal even if a small amount of themeal is taken. Consequently, appetite is inhibited and eventuallyovereating is prevented. In addition, as the viscosity grows much higherin the stomach, the food may be in low viscosity at the time of intake,which allows for easier intake and better palatability than prior-artproducts.

In conclusion, the food according to the present invention is a calorieintake-controlling food having the same appearance, taste and feeling onintake as with the ordinary gruel, being of a very low calorie level perunit weight and producing a long duration of the feeling of fullstomach.

Moreover, there is obtained according to the invention a calorieintake-controlling food capable of being stored over a long period oftime.

The invention will be described in more detail below with reference toexamples and test examples.

EXAMPLE 1

To 210 g of washed milled rice (717 Kcal) was added 315 ml of water, andthe mixture was cooked in an electric pan to prepare 460 g of cookedrice. The cooked rice was placed in 5 l of boiling water, and themixture was heated with gentle stirring for 20 min. The supernatant wasthen filtered off to produce 700 g of desaccharized cooked rice. Calorielevel of the desaccharized cooked rice was reduced to 327 Kcal,representing a degree of desaccharization of 54.4%.

Separately, 5.6 g of carrageenan and 2.8 g of sodium caseinate weredissolved in 700 ml of water. The solution was added to theabove-mentioned desaccharized cooked rice, and to the resulting mixturewere added 1 g of salt and 0.1 g of sodium glutamate for seasoning.There was thus obtained a product of the invention.

A sensory test and a test of duration of the feeling of full stomachwere carried out in healthy volunteers for the product of the inventionobtained above.

In the sensory test ordinary 50%-concentrated gruel was used as control.The 50%-concentrated gruel was prepared by adding 300 ml of water to 200g of ordinary gruel, heating the mixture to a whole volume of 400 ml andadding 0.29 g of salt and 0.03 g of sodium glutamate for seasoning.

Results of the sensory test for appearance, taste and texture on intakeare shown in Table 2. Number of the volunteers in the sensory test was18.

                  TABLE 2                                                         ______________________________________                                                   To the gruel                                                                  Superior  Equal   Inferior                                         ______________________________________                                        Appearance   1           14      3                                            Taste        3           9       6                                            Texture on intake                                                                          2           13      3                                            ______________________________________                                    

As shown in Table 2, the product of the invention was estimated as beingequal to the gruel in appearance, taste and texture on intake.

Duration of the feeling of full stomach was estimated as follows: Atotal of 18 volunteers who usually take a food of 500-800 Kcal at lunchtime and dinner at 6-7 p.m. were employed. The volunteers were eachgiven 350 g of the product of the invention for 100 Kcal and then fasteduntil 7 p.m. when degree of the hunger sensation were compared with thatproduced after intake of ordinary lunch. Results are shown in Table 3.

                  TABLE 3                                                         ______________________________________                                        Degree of the hunger sensation (as compared with                              that after intake of ordinary lunch).                                         Much   Fairly   Slightly E-   Slightly                                                                             Fairly                                                                              Much                               stronger                                                                             stronger stronger qual weaker weaker                                                                              weaker                             ______________________________________                                        0      1        1        3    3      4     0                                  ______________________________________                                    

As shown in Table 3, it was surprisingly observed that hunger sensationproduced when the food of the invention, in spite of its calorie intakelevel being from 1/5 to 1/8 as low as that of ordinary lunch, was takentended to be only slightly weaker than that when ordinary lunch wastaken.

EXAMPLE 2

To 2.5 kg of washed milled rice was added 4 l of water, and the mixturewas cooked in an electric pan to produce 5 kg of cooked rice. The cookedrice was placed in 50 l of boiling water, and the mixture was heatedwith gentle stirring for 20 min. Then, the supernatant was filtered offto obtain 9 kg of desaccharized cooked rice. Separately, 50 g ofcarrageenan CS-215 and 60 g of calcium caseinate were dissolved in 9 lof hot water. Each of thirty 300 ml aluminum packs for retort was filledwith 140 ml of the solution and 140 g of the desaccharized cooked rice,deaerated and tightly sealed by a heat sealer. There was thus obtainedfood of the invention.

Separately, 4 l of water was added to 2.5 kg of washed milled rice, andthe mixture was cooked in an electric pan to prepare 5 kg of cookedrice. To the cooked rice was added 5.5 l of water, and the mixture wasstewed for approximately 60 min. to a whole amount of 10 kg to preparegruel. Each of thirty 300 ml aluminum packs for retort was filled with280 g of the gruel, deaerated and tightly sealed by a heat sealer. Theretort gruel thus obtained was used as control food.

The food of the invention and the control food were subjected tosterilization in a retort oven at 115° C. for 20 min. Three groups of 10packs were then stored for 6 months under three sets of conditions,refrigerated (4° C.), at room temperature (approximately 25° C.) and atelevated temperature (37° C.), respectively. The packs were opened afterthe 6-months storage and sampled. There was observed disintegration ofthe cooked rice grains in the control food when stored at roomtemperature as well as at elevated temperature. Discoloration to paleyellow was also observed in some of the packs of the elevatedtemperature storage group. However, with the food of the invention therewere observed no changes under any of the storage conditions from thestates prior to initiation of the storage.

EXAMPLE 3

To 210 g of washed milled rice (717 Kcal) was added 330 ml of water, andthe mixture was cooked in an electric pan to prepare 490 g of cookedrice. The cooked rice was placed in 5 l of boiling water, and themixture was heated with gentle stirring for 30 min. The supernatant wasthen filtered off to obtain 670 g of desaccharized cooked rice.Separately, 6.5 g of carrageenan and 40 g of sodium caseinate weredissolved in 750 ml of water. The whole of the solution was added to theabove-mentioned desaccharized cooked rice, and 1.5 g of salt and 0.1 gof sodium glutamate were added to the mixture for seasoning while gentlyheating with stirring to 70° C. There was thus obtained a product of theinvention. To 100 g of the product of the invention placed in a 500-mlbeaker was added 200 ml of artificial gastric juice (J. P. Solution Ifor the disintegration test, pH 2.0 ) heated to 40° C. followed byobservation of change in physical properties of the product of theinvention. As a result, it was confirmed that the product of theinvention rapidly gelled when contacted with the artificial gastricjuice.

Test Example 1

To 210 g of washed milled rice (717 Kcal) was added 315 ml of water, andthe mixture was cooked in an electric pan to prepare 460 g of cookedrice. The cooked rice was placed in 5 l of boiling water, and themixture was heated with gentle stirring for 20 min. The supernatant wasthen filtered off to obtain 680 g of desaccharized cooked rice. Calorielevel of the desaccharized cooked rice was reduced to 284 Kcal,corresponding to a degree of desaccharization of 60.4%.

Separately, 5.0 g of carrageenan and 8.0 g of sodium caseinate weredissolved in 680 ml of water. The whole of the solution was added to theabove-mentioned desaccharized cooked rice, and 1 g of salt and 0.1 g ofsodium glutamate were added to the mixture for seasoning while gentlyheating with stirring to 70° C. There was thus obtained a product of theinvention.

Ordinary 50%-concentrated gruel was used as control. The50%-concentrated gruel was obtained by adding 300 ml of water to 200 gof ordinary gruel, heating the mixture to a whole volume of 400 ml andadding 0.29 g of salt and 0.03 g of sodium glutamate for seasoning.

Patients with previous abnormality of glucose tolerance wereadministered either the product of the invention or of the control, andblood was drawn prior to, and 30 min., 60 min., 120 min. and 180 min.after the administration for the measurement of blood glucose level.Results are shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, rise of the bloodglucose level is much smaller with the product of the invention thanwith the ordinary 50%-concentrated gruel of control product. Thus, theproduct of the invention is very useful for patients with glucoseintolerance.

As described above, it was demonstrated that the food of the inventionwas superior in storage stability to the ordinary gruel when processedto retort food.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a graph indicating changes of blood glucose level followingadministration of the food of the invention and the control food,respectively. The horizontal axis indicates time after administration ofthe food, and the vertical axis indicates blood glucose level. The solidcircle is for the blood glucose level with the product of the invention,and the open circle is for the blood glucose level with the controlfood.

Industrial Applicability

The food of the invention is useful as low-calorie food for treatmentand prevention of obesity as well as for treatment of diabetes mellitus.

Such food of the invention is manufactured in industrial fields such asfood industry or pharmaceutical industry.

What is claimed is:
 1. Calorie intake-controlling food which compriseslow-calorie rice grains having reduced carbohydrate content, awater-soluble dietary fiber and protein having an isoelectric point inthe acidic region in the ratio by weight of 0.5 to 2 parts of theprotein for one part of the fiber and in the ratio by weight of 1 to 100parts of the rice grains for one part of the fiber plus the protein,wherein the rice grains are desaccharized by extracting cooked rice withwater or a diluted acid solution at a temperature of 60° C. or higher,and in which said water-soluble dietary fiber and said protein are insuch proportions that an aqueous solution of said food is gelatinizedwhen contacted with gastric juice.
 2. Calorie intake-controlling foodaccording to claim 1 which is in gruel form.
 3. Calorieintake-controlling food according to claim 1, wherein the fiber iscarrageenan or guar gum.
 4. Calorie intake-controlling food according toclaim 1 wherein the protein is casein or a salt thereof.
 5. Calorieintake-controlling food according to claim 1 containing seasonings. 6.Calorie intake-controlling food according to claim 5 wherein theseasonings are one or more members selected from the group consisting ofsoy sauce, miso and sodium glutamate.